Date:  Wed, 13 Sep 1995 10:02:51 CST

From:  salikoko mufwene <mufw[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU>

Subject: Re: FOR English Only



>> No other nation that I am aware of is facing the language challenge

>> that we are up against.



  Perhaps not as hysterically? The development of the Sociology of Language

is in part attributable to misguided promises to help Third World countries

solve their economic and political development problems by eliminating

societal multilingualism. The literature dealt with the epiphenomenon and

ignored almost everything that mattered for the "development" of those

countries. Of course, there was also the hypermetropic illusion that those

problems were characteristic of the Third World in the wake on "political

independence."



>>In spite of our technological advances, such

>> as this e-mail, communication is breaking down due to language

>> diversification. With the rate of growth of non-English communities,

>> it is increasingly difficult to maintain viable communication.



>I assume you're talking about the number of different languages spoken

>in the US. Right? Has anybody established a maximum number of different

>languages appropriate for maintaining viable communication? Obviously it

>has to be four or more since Switzerland seems to do ok.



 Could you both start by explaining what you mean by "viable

communication?" at what level of interaction?



Sali.

***********************************************************************

Salikoko S. Mufwene

University of Chicago

Dept. of Linguistics

1010 East 59th Street

Chicago, IL 60637

s-mufwene[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uchicago.edu

312-702-8531; fax: 312-702-9861